EPISODE 621Broadcast on Channel 5 Sunday 04 June 2000 04:40 Roach and Ida decide to rob a newsagent and Nancy's diary makes interesting reading for an officer. Joan ~ Maggie Kirkpatrick Meg ~ Elspeth Ballantyne Ann ~ Gerda Nicolson Joyce ~ Joy Westmore Nancy ~ Julia Blake Rita ~ Glenda Linscott Julie ~ Jackie Woodburne Lexie ~ Pepe Trevor Alice ~ Lois Collinder Janet ~ Christine Earle Kath ~ Kate Hood Mervin ~ Ernie Bourne Ida Brown ~ Paddy Burnet Roach Waters ~ Linda Hartley Andrew Hinton ~ Fredric Abbott Bongo Connors ~ Shane Connor Uncle Perc ~ Vic Gordon Albert Ross ~ Roger Boyce  Mary Harris ~ Marian Sinclair  Tony Browning ~ Bradley Croft Newsagent Man ~ Rick Burke  Fight Co-Ordinator ~ Glenn Ruehland When Joan makes a dash with her golf trolley, the cover falls off one of the clubs. Maggie Kirkpatrick glances down for a second and, (correctly) calculating that a retake would not be asked for, carries on without picking it up. Kath says to Nancy and Rita: "There are 25 others in this damn block", which would make 28 in H block altogether. This does sound plausible, but would be well over half the total capacity of Wentworth according to some previous indications... Roach mentions Ettie, who still seems to be running her flats for wayward girls. The getaway car has the number plate CBA 321 | The women exercise in the gym: Alice is not the only one to take a fancy to the instructor, even though he is frankly not particularly hunky. Janet tells Kath that Alice and Rita are out of solitary and repeats her offer to pass on useful information about what the other women are planning to do against Kath. Kath rebuffs her and Janet offers to support Kath if she wants to challenge Rita for top dog position. Kath looks at her oddly at this suggestion, as well she might. Joan hangs around the golf club, making a pathetic attempt to look casual as she knocks huge divots out of the fairways, to the accompaniment of "comic" bassoon music. Nancy surprises everyone by her prowess in the gym. Janet wrecks Rita's cell. The instructor gives Nancy a poster of a muscle man: when she politely expresses appreciation, Rita nudges her and asks who's coming out of the closet (though the question might be better aimed at the gym instructor, I suspect, for having the poster in the first place). Joan meets Andrew again, or rather almost brains him with an ill-controlled drive. Andrew invites Joan to join him and his friends in a round of golf starting again at the ninth hole. Nancy and Rita go to talk to Kath, but it is Nancy who ends up slapping Kath after Kath accuses her of being a hypocrite for taking a high moral tone. After all, Kath points out, she did kill her husband in cold blood. Janet drops by after Rita and Nancy leave to remind Kath of her offer to support her. Alice bumps into Kath in the dining room to make her drop her dinner plate so she has to clean it up. Kath is provoked to retaliate with the untypically childish gesture of unravelling Mervin and Joyce's wedding video so the women can't watch it (would this really have been such a bad thing?), but she's caught in the act  . Joan lets slip that she works at a prison, but Andrew doesn't seem to mind and they make a date for another game. Joyce is upset by the vandalism of the video but agrees to ask Uncle Perc for another copy. Joan is unnaturally sunny at work. A second copy of the video is shown in the rec room: Alice and Rita sneak off, tie Kath to a security gate and hose her down with a fire extinguisher  . Lexie asks to borrow the video camera so the women can make their own films as a recreational activity. Janet unties Kath just before Joan passes by on her rounds, so she only finds the pool of foam on the corridor floor. Roach is helping Bongo while he is on the run and visits him in the barn where he's hiding out. Joan gets Rita and Alice to clear up the mess. Roach agrees to Bongo's suggestion to ask Ida for money to help him gate away, but says he hasn't much hope of getting any. Kath agrees to join forces with Janet. Nancy is disappointed to hear that Rita and Alice punished Kath. Janet shows Kath that she has a knife but warns her it won't be enough on its own: Kath needs to come up with some money to buy support. Kath agrees to phone her husband and get him to bring some money in. Joan reads Nancy's diary again to confirm her suspicions about the attack on Kath and goes to Ann with the information. Ann refuses to bow to Joan's demands that Rita and Alice should be transferred to Blackmoor. Roach does a robbery with Ida, with a creaky old Morris Minor as the getaway car. Ann tells Joan she's called in the Minister to discuss her insubordination  . Janet gets some weaponry for Kath: Rita is passing while they are deciding where to hide it. She sees the knife and tries to take it from Kath but gets her hand cut. Kath warns her she's facing one murder charge and is quite happy to make it two if she needs to protect herself  . |
EPISODE 622Broadcast on Channel 5 Saturday 10 June 2000 04:40 Amy offers Joan $10,000 to have Julie's sentence increased.Meg ~ Elspeth Ballantyne Joan ~ Maggie Kirkpatrick Ann ~ Gerda Nicolson Nancy ~ Julia Blake Rita ~ Glenda Linscott Julie ~ Jackie Woodburne Lexie ~ Pepe Trevor Alice ~ Lois Collinder Joyce ~ Joy Westmore Kath ~ Kate Hood Janet ~ Christine Earle Mervin ~ Ernie Bourne Amy Ryan ~ Penny Ramsay Roach Waters ~ Linda Hartley Vicki ~ Rebecca Dines Steve Ryan ~ Peter Hayes Ida Brown ~ Paddy Burnet Andrew Hinton ~ Fredric Abbott Alan Maxwell ~ Peter Flett James Dwyer ~ James Condon Bongo Connors ~ Shane Connor Debbie ~ Ellie Nielsen  Uniformed Policeman 1 ~ Matthew Barker  Stunt Co-Ordinator ~ Glenn Ruehland Policeman 1 (double) ~ Chris Peters Policeman 2 ~ Christopher Barry Policeman 3 ~ Greg Skipper  Policeman 4 ~ Johny Raaen UNCREDITED"George" (Roach's brother) in voice-over when Rita phones him.One of the backround prisoners can be seen behind Kath and Alan in the visiting suite | Rita returns to the laundry with her hand bandaged (by herself apparently, which shows some dexterity). The women want to sort Kath out immediately, but Rita tells them to wait: instead she decrees that Kath and Janet will be sent to Coventry. Alan visits Kath and brings a photo album with money hidden inside: she snaps at him for not visiting her until she asked him to, but he complains it would have been too depressing for him. Roach and Ida give the money from the robbery to Bongo: he shows no sign of gratitude and even complains that it isn't enough. Alan tells Kath that he's been offered a job in Perth, and he has accepted it. Joan warns Rita and Alice that they'll be transferred to Blackmoor if there's any more trouble from them, and adds that she knows they were responsible for spraying Kath. Kath gives the money to Janet, but flies at her when Janet makes a callous remark telling Kath to shut up about her "dead brat". Ann confronts Joan in front of the Minister, but he sides with Joan after she has offered a sickeningly insincere apology to Ann. Amy Ryan whiles away the cocktail hour reading "The effects of incarceration upon women: a study by Steve Ryan". The police trace Roach and Ida's car and both they and Bongo are caught. Mervin tells Nancy that Uncle Perc has donated his video camera for the women to use. Steve's mother visits Julie to find out from her the identity of the hostile officer mentioned in Steve's thesis (Joan, who else?). Nancy has a go with the camera  , but has to stop Rita and the others thinking up ingenious ways of using it to make money or con people. Julie returns to the rec room happy after the visit from Mrs Ryan, thinking that she and Steve have his mother's blessing for their relationship. Kath and Janet pay Vicki for protection, but she still won't commit herself to supporting Kath's move to take over from Rita, telling Kath she's got no chance. Mrs Ryan gives Joan her card  as she leaves and asks her to phone her later as she's got a proposal she thinks Joan will find "interesting". Ann tells Rita about Bongo's capture and asks her to keep an eye on Roach, as she and Ida are on their way to Wentworth. Ann makes it clear to Joan that she has no intention of letting her take over the running of the prison while she's Governor. Roach and Ida are inducted: Ida tries to pretend she's innocent and claims she was just a "hostage". Roach recognises Joan, but can't remember immediately where from. Amy Ryan tells Steve about her visit to Julie and pretends she has no objection to their relationship now she's met Julie. Kath is to be Roach's cellmate, but she pulls a knife on Roach when she mentions Rita and says she's a friend. Roach remembers where she's seen Joan before and tells Rita that it was Joan who set fire to the Conqueror's bikes. Rita realises that this means that Joan was indirectly responsible for Slasher's death and phones "George" (Roach's brother) to pass the information on to the Conquerors. Joan meets Mrs Ryan in a park  , and is offered $10,000 if she can get Julie a longer sentence. Rita tells the women she's arranged to have Joan's house burnt down, but not in order to kill her, as she wants to take care of that herself. |
Channel 5 postponed the episode scheduled for Sunday 11 June 2000 at 04:40 due to an overrun on the live ice hockey coverage.
EPISODE 623Broadcast on Channel 5 Saturday 17 June 2000 04:40 Rita's search for revenge finds Joan struggling for her life on the rooftop.Joan ~ Maggie Kirkpatrick Meg ~ Elspeth Ballantyne Ann ~ Gerda Nicolson Joyce ~ Joy Westmore Nancy ~ Julia Blake Rita ~ Glenda Linscott Julie ~ Jackie Woodburne Lexie ~ Pepe Trevor Alice ~ Lois Collinder Kath ~ Kate Hood Lorelei Wilkinson ~ Paula Duncan  Janet ~ Christine Earle Ida Brown ~ Paddy Burnet Amy Ryan ~ Penny Ramsay Roach Waters ~ Linda Hartley Granny Wilkinson ~ Esme Melville  Andrew Hinton ~ Fredric Abbott Zoe Wilkinson ~ Ashby Redward  Officer Bailey ~ Maureen Edwards Tailshaft ~ Ian Shrives  Detective Lee ~ Terry Brittingham  Biker 2 ~ Matt Browne  [R?]Biker 3 ~ Barry Soloman Keith Moore ~ Peter Hosking  Policewoman ~ Janice Cleland  Barman ~ Dean Nicols  Joan doesn't look like the kind of person who never checks her bank statement, but she can't have done if she didn't notice that the quite substantial cheque she wrote for a year's insurance had never been cashed. When Joan tells Andrew that Lorelei was a friend of "someone close to me", presumably she means Audrey. | Joan refuses to help Mrs Ryan, even though she acknowledges that she'd probably do the same in her position. As Joan is leaving, Mrs Ryan repeats her offer, pointing out that it's a lot of money for "doing what come naturally". Nancy tries to argue against what she calls Rita's "mindless revenge" but Rita has no shortage of volunteers to join in with her plot against Joan. Kath tries to find out from Roach about Rita's plans but impresses on her that Roach should her nose out of Kath's business and not report back to Rita anything she happens to hear through sharing a cell with her. Ida cons Joyce into having a meal delivered to her cell by saying she's too exhausted to go to the dining room. Joyce apparently doesn't hear Ida's demented cackling as she accompanies Julie delivering the tray and seems genuinely concerned for Ida's welfare. Julie tells Rita she's worried for her as Joan is sure to work out who's behind the arson attack. Rita replies that she's counting on it and will be ready for Joan when she makes a move against her. The gang prepare to torch Joan's house by siphoning off some petrol into a container. While she is out drinking with Andrew, Joan spots a woman she knows as an ex-prisoner from Queensland. When the man she is with leaves her alone for a moment, Joan goes over to talk to her and calls her by her real name Lolene (?) Snook, asking her if she's still doing the same con routine. The woman asks her to call her Lorelei Wilkinson, as that's the name she's using for her boyfriend. She tells Joan that she's not conning him because "he loves me for what I am" (somewhat spoiling the effect by admitting in the next breath "he doesn't know anything about me"). Julie and Lexie try to fill Roach in on who to avoid, with Kath at the top of the list: Roach points out this is a bit hard to achieve as they are sharing a cell. Joan is interrupted by an anonymous call at the bar to tell her house is to be set on fire  . A cheap establishing shot of fireman searching through charred wreckage shows that the threat was carried out. Andrew takes Joan home to his place and insists that she stay with her. Joan nevertheless insists on going in to work the evening shift. Lorelei visits her mother, who is baby-sitting her daughter Zoe. At lockup, Ida realises that Roach is hesitating to return to her own cell because she's afraid of Kath. Joan enters Rita's cell after lockup armed with a baton, but Rita is hiding behind the door and knocks her out. She takes Joan's keys, lets out Lexie and Alice and they all drag Joan through the corridors  , ducking into Ida's cell when they hear Joyce approaching. When Joyce looks through the spy-hole, Ida pretends that Joan's groaning is just her burping after the onions in her meal. Rita and Alice take up Joan on the roof. Officer Bailey tells Joyce she's taken a call from Andrew about the fire at Joan's house: Joyce goes to look for Joan. Rita and Alice dangle Joan over the edge of the roof  , and threaten to let go, but it is only an attempt to scare her and keep her keys. Joyce finds Joan, but her help is spurned: Joan is only concerned to cover up the loss of her keys. Joan comes to Rita's cell and asks for her keys back: Rita gives the keys back, as she realises that Joan is still under her control. Janet tells Kath that she'll get her sister to visit and bring in cocaine. Ann orders Joan to go home when she finds her still on duty the following morning, but Joan refuses to obey. Joan is appalled  to find that her house insurance has lapsed, as Terri didn't post the cheque. Lorelei is arrested for theft and impersonating a police officer. Meg wonders if the women already knew about the fire at Joan's, judging by their reaction when she turned up to take muster. Joan decides to phone Mrs Ryan to take her up on her offer but demands $12,000 instead. Lorelei says goodbye to her daughter, and tells her she's got to stay with the wicked witch for a while. Joan makes an approach to Kath telling her she wants her help fixing Rita and her gang. |
EPISODE 624Broadcast on Channel 5 Sunday 18 June 2000 04:40 Julie's chance for happiness seems ruined when Kath carries out an insidious plan for Joan.Meg ~ Elspeth Ballantyne Joan ~ Maggie Kirkpatrick Ann ~ Gerda Nicolson Nancy ~ Julia Blake Rita ~ Glenda Linscott Julie ~ Jackie Woodburne Lexie ~ Pepe Trevor Alice ~ Lois Collinder Joyce ~ Joy Westmore Kath ~ Kate Hood Janet ~ Christine Earle Lorelei Wilkinson ~ Paula Duncan Amy Ryan ~ Penny Ramsay Roach Waters ~ Linda Hartley Pat Slattery ~ Dorothy Cutts Steve Ryan ~ Peter Hayes Andrew Hinton ~ Fredric Abbott Detective Harris ~ Laurie Dobson  Peter McCormack ~ Steve Bastoni Sandra Williams ~ Andrea Butcher  Policewoman ~ Carolyn Kennett Male Stripper ~ George Mulov  Julie seems to say to Steve "She's got you and your sisters", so possibly Hope and Heather are meant to be different people. Joan's remark about "one source that won't be hung from the rafters" is probably an allusion to Eve Wilder. | Kath initially refuses to help, but Joan  tells her she knows about the weapons Kath has hidden and she is prepared to tell the Governor all about them if Kath doesn't play along. Joan tells Kath that all she wants Kath to do is "destroy" Rita. In the laundry the women are starting to make plans to use their new found influence over Joan, but Rita puts the lid on them doing anything immediately, as it would just push Joan beyond the point where she would feel she had nothing to lose. Lexie tells the women that Mabel has visited with the news that Jessie has organised a surprise treat for them: she wouldn't say what it was, but the women have to be in the area nearest the fence for the next exercise period. Joan takes Kath off to the rec room pretending it's for extra cleaning duties as a punishment, but really to give her the opportunity for an uninterrupted chat about tactics. She tells Kath that she has to do another small job and fix Julie first before they start on Rita. Nancy thinks the documentary she plans about life in prison should be scripted and wonders where she could get hold of an officer's uniform. Alice launches into an impression of Joan and Lexie cruelly pretends that Joan is standing right behind her. Steve visits Julie and tells her she was wrong about his mother: if she was nice to Julie it must have been for some devious reason of her own. Janet's sister Sandy visits her, but thinks smuggling drugs inside is too big a risk and refuses to help her. Nancy has a visit from Peter who tells he has met a girl called Danielle and he wants to marry her. Jessie's surprise turns out to be a male stripper who does his routine standing on the back of a van parked outside Wentworth. Kath tells Janet she'll get someone else to bring in the cocaine - perhaps her husband? Joan complains to Ann about the other officers turning a blind eye to the stripper, as it could have been a cover for smuggling in contraband. She tells Ann she will be consulting her "source" to see if she can get any more information. Joan is unable to find anything in Nancy's diary, and Nancy returns from her visit from Peter to find Joan in her cell. Joan cannot get any information from Kath either, and Kath manipulates Joan into agreeing to get cocaine for her from Janet's sister but at Joan's own expense. Joan also suggests that LSD is provided to frame Julie. Lexie tries to charge the women to watch the video she's made of the stripper's act. Lorelei is brought to Wentworth on remand  . Nancy tells the other women about finding Joan in her cell: Rita thinks he must have been trying to plant something. Joan phones Sandy while Andrew is busy in the kitchen. The women search Nancy's cell. Lorelei is introduced to the women and meets her new cellmates Julie and Lexie. Joan picks up the drugs left in Andrew's mailbox just as the police drive up, but they only want to ask her about the fire. Lorelei puts up curtains in her cell. Joan phones Mrs Ryan to give her the number of her bank account. Kath tries to recruit Lorelei, but when Janet strong-arms her, Lorelei pulls a judo throw on her. Joan passes the drugs to Kath (in a surprisingly thin envelope). Joan reports an incident involving Merle Jones in C block after someone called her by her nickname "Loonie" and suggests that she is transferred to H block where Rita's influence could put an end to the teasing she gets. Ann thinks this might be a good idea and promises to consider it. Kath knocks Julie out using some billiard balls in a sock and puts a tablet in her mouth  , wishing her "Bon Voyage". |
EPISODE 625Broadcast on Channel 5 Saturday 24 June 2000 04:45. Joan has accepted a bribe to keep Julie in prison. And Steve's mother is determined to stop the wedding.Joan ~ Maggie Kirkpatrick Meg ~ Elspeth Ballantyne Ann ~ Gerda Nicolson Joyce ~ Joy Westmore Nancy ~ Julia Blake Rita ~ Glenda Linscott Julie ~ Jackie Woodburne Lexie ~ Pepe Trevor Alice ~ Lois Collinder Kath ~ Kate Hood Lorelei Wilkinson ~ Paula Duncan Janet ~ Christine Earle Amy Ryan ~ Penny Ramsay Roach Waters ~ Linda Hartley Ida Brown ~ Paddy Burnet Mervin ~ Ernie Bourne Steve Ryan ~ Peter Hayes Marty ~ Michael Winchester  Vicki ~ Rebecca Dines Merle ~ Rosanne Hull-Brown  Debbie ~ Ellie Nielsen Sister Hall ~ Gael Andrews Dave Wilson ~ Peter Hardy  Fight Arranger ~ Glen Ruehland Truck Driver ~ David Brown Throughout Julie's LSD trip, we hear a vague (synthesised) approximation of Indian classical music. This Beatles/hippie association deeply offended Ravi Shankar at least, and is about 15 years out of date even by the time this episode was recorded. If, as Alice says of Kath's conspirators, "Tina saw them in the gym", then Tina is some sort of double agent - or she has a body double, for she can be seen herself in the gym on both sides of Alice's speech, gingerly fingering an outsize carving knife | Meg goes out to the gate to meet Marty: he tells her he's left the Navy. Julie comes round  but the LSD has taken effect: the Pears soap poster with the frilly little girl and the dog looks even more kitschy than usual. Lorelei defends Joan against the other women and courts Rita's disapproval for doing so. Under the influence of LSD, it seems to Julie as though Auntie Ida has put on a mask only slightly more frightening even than her own face  and Alice's muscle man poster lokks starngely familiar  . Joan is surprisingly pleasant to Lorelei when she catches her out of her rostered area, but nevertheless asks her to keep quiet about "the business in Brisbane". Meg takes Marty to the staff room to catch up on his news. Julie wanders into Lorelei's cell: Lorelei realises what is wrong with her and makes her sit down while she goes for help, but Julie wanders off again. Nancy is sent to find Julie before Joan catches her. Kath hands the drugs over to Janet and asks her to pass on to their potential supporters that they will be handing out free cocaine at the lunch break. When Marty returns to the car waiting outside Wentworth and talks to his friend Dave, it becomes obvious that he is keeping something secret from Meg. Julie hallucinates Steve and his mother (both haloed in purple  ) criticising her dress  and cancelling the wedding as she is far too common. Nancy catches up with Julie when she bursts into the kitchen looking for Steve, but Julie grabs a knife and Nancy is hurt trying to take it from her. Julie runs outside and hides in a garbage container  . Meg and Joyce look for Julie as the garbage van arrives and starts to load up, but Meg hears Julie's screams and stops the truck. Joan tells Kath her muscle will be arriving later the same day, and warns her of an impending cell search. Rita clams Lexie down and stops her from going off to bash Kath immediately by pointing out it would be better to leave it until after the cell search when Kath would have been deprived of the cache of weapons she is hiding. Kath tells Janet to collect all the drugs and weapons and to bring them to her cell: Joan searches Kath's cell and passes it as clean. Steve comes to visit Julie and he and Ann agree that she would not have taken LSD willingly. Rita is disappointed when Ann announces that nothing was found in the cell search. Rita decides she will beat Kath until she hands the drugs and weapons over. Kath rallies her supporters in the gym. Ann appeals to Joan not to press for Julie to be reported, but the furthest she will go is to promise to ask her informant. Rita and Alice go to the gym to confront Kath, but Kath lets them know she has a knife, and all her supporters flourish their own weapons (Lorna has a particularly vicious looking champagne flute...). Rita agrees to a fight between a selected person from each side. Joan phones Mrs Ryan to tell her Julie is fixed: Mrs Ryan promises to deposit the money in her account. Joan brings Kath her new cellmate, Merle Jones, and obligingly backs down when Kath stands up to her over whether Merle can pin her comics to the notice board  . Lexie reports Merle's transfer to Kath's cell to all the women in the laundry - among the various reactions to the news, Alice alone is supportive and says Merle is OK if you don't get her too excited. Mrs Ryan is on her way to the bank, but changes her mind when Steve tells her that the marriage will go ahead in Wentworth as soon as possible. When Kath expresses surprise at Merle being supplied as backup for her, saying she seems no more than "a big dumb kid", Joan tells her that Merle hospitalised someone for tearing one of her comics, and rips one herself  , suggesting to Kath that she blame Rita for it. |
Story Editor: Bevan Lee
Script Editor: Quincy McQuade (621); Alister Webb (622); Quincy McQuade (623); Alister Webb (624), (625)
Storyliners: Bevan Lee, Tony McDonald, John Coulter
| (616) to (620) |
